A manager must decide how many machines of a certain type to buy. The machines will be used to manufacture a new gear for which there is increased demand. The manager has narrowed the decision of two alternatives: buy one machine or buy two. If only one machine is purchased and demand is more than it can handle, a second machine can be purchased at a later time. However, the cost per machine would be lower if the two machines were purchased at the same time. The estimated probability of low demand is 0.30 and the estimated probability of high demand is 0.70.The net present value associated with the purchase of two machines initially is $75000 if demand is low and $130000 if demand is high. The net present value for one machine and low demand is $90000. If demand is high, there are three options. One option is to do nothing, which would have a net present value of $90000. A second option is to subcontract; that would have a net present value of $110000. The third option is to purchase a second machine. This option would have a net present value of $100000.How many machines should the manager purchase initially? Use a decision tree to analyse this problem.

Suppose that kenji, an economist from an am talk radio program, and lucia, an economist from a school of industrial relations, are arguing over health insurance. the following dialogue shows an excerpt from their debate: lucia: a popular topic for debate among politicians as well as economists is the idea of providing government assistance for health benefits. kenji: i think it is oppressive for the government to tax people who take care of themselves in order to pay for health insurance for those who are obese. lucia: i disagree. i think government funding of health insurance is useful to ensure basic fairness. the disagreement between these economists is most likely due to . despite their differences, with which proposition are two economists chosen at random most likely to agree? lawyers make up an excessive percentage of elected officials. minimum wage laws do more to harm low-skilled workers than them. tariffs and import quotas generally reduce economic welfare.

In december of 2004, the company you own entered into a 20-year contract with a grain supplier for daily deliveries of grain to its hot dog bun manufacturing facility. the contract called for "10,000 pounds of grain" to be delivered to the facility at the price of $100,000 per day. until february 2017, the supplier provided processed grain which could easily be used in your manufacturing process. however, no longer wanting to absorb the cost of having the grain processed, the supplier began delivering whole grain. the supplier is arguing that the contract does not specify the type of grain that would be supplied and that it has not breached the contract. your company is arguing that the supplier has an onsite processing plant and processed grain was implicit to the terms of the contract. over the remaining term of the contract, reshipping and having the grain processed would cost your company approximately $10,000,000, opposed to a cost of around $1,000,000 to the supplier. after speaking with in-house counsel, it was estimated that litigation would cost the company several million dollars and last for years. weighing the costs of litigation, along with possible ambiguity in the contract, what are three options you could take to resolve the dispute? which would be the best option for your business and why?

You are working on a bid to build two city parks a year for the next three years. this project requires the purchase of $249,000 of equipment that will be depreciated using straight-line depreciation to a zero book value over the three-year project life. ignore bonus depreciation. the equipment can be sold at the end of the project for $115,000. you will also need $18.000 in net working capital for the duration of the project. the fixed costs will be $37000 a year and the variable costs will be $148,000 per park. your required rate of return is 14 percent and your tax rate is 21 percent. what is the minimal amount you should bid per park? (round your answer to the nearest $100) (a) $214,300 (b) $214,100 (c) $212,500 (d) $208,200 (e) $208,400